Thursday, September 17, 2009

Ebert -Part 1

We're going a little out of continuity here in terms of who we interviewed and in what order, but that's because I don't have the raw tapes to play with and cut for you(they're currently in a dark basement editing suite where they were tape by tape re-imported to make the highest quality version of the film, pour vous). BTW, a little tangent here. The poster/dvd design is looking awesome. More news soon about where you'll be able to grab it.

So. Mr. Roger. Ebert. If you didn't know, Roger has had a tough time of it for the last few years or so. He underwent further surgeryon June 16, 2006, just two days before his 64th birthday, to remove cancer near his right jaw, which included removing a section of jaw bone. On July 1, Ebert was hospitalized in serious condition after his carotid artery burst near the surgery site and he "came within a breath of death".He later learned that the burst was likely a side effect of his treatment, which involved neutron beam radiation. He was subsequently kept bedridden to prevent further damage to the scarred vessels in his neck while he slowly recovered from multiple surgeries and the rigorous treatment. At one point, his status was so precarious that Ebert had a tracheotomy done on his neck to reduce the effort of breathing while he recovered.

Which made it all that more unbelievable that he called us two weeks before the June 16th surgery (that was the day we were supposed to have originally interviewed him) to reschedule our interview. We thought he was going to push it until after the surgery, but he wanted to make sure we spoke with him so we ended up doing it a week earlier.

He was probably the most gracious person we met. He was passionate about Hughes' work, about contributing to our film and completely reaffirmed why we were making the documentary; We had gone to him hoping for some answers to our questions, but he had been left with the same questions we had.

1 comment:

Absolutely, I agree with what Roger said.In the past I had enjoyed his takes on movies and his opinion was and still is valuable to me. Keep working hard, I’m sure the documentary is being awaited with anticipation; so many people have enjoyed all of John Hughes’films, even my daughter and son who are today’s generation adore his films,so I’m sure there is definitely a viewer interest out there In learning more about a fellow such as John Hughes who gave so many delightful imaginary hours to so many of us and still continues to do so with all of his movies’ replays.

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Welcome to our blog.

Until the film is available for you to purchase (stay tuned for when&where you can get it), we'll be updating this blog weekly with a start to finish recounting of our trials and tribulations making the film, interview clips that didn't make the final cut, pictures, links, and songs from our amazing indie soundtrack.

SYNOPSIS

How did John Hughes capture the growing pains of adolescence so perfectly? Why do his films resonate with those that grew up with them, and those that have just discovered them? Why did he leave?

Armed with those and many other questions, a documentary was put into production. It wasn't long before interviews with Hughes alumni and those influenced by Hughes transpired, shedding light on Hughes and his work. However, after 2 years of compiling hundreds of interviews there was still a very important one missing: John Hughes'.

So the neophyte documentary crew hit the road to his hometown, documenting their journey, the approach they would take and their personal connections to his films.

DON'T YOU FORGET ABOUT ME cuts insightful and entertaining interviews with the honest, humorous, and tension filled road trip the filmmakers go on, hoping to find John Hughes and secure an interview with the reclusive director and closure for themselves.